The present invention relates generally to the field of Information Technology (IT) environments, and more particularly to managing change in an IT environment.
An IT environment, or IT infrastructure, includes a variety of IT resources, which are managed, in accordance with the needs and priorities of an organization. Some examples of resources that an IT environment can include are computer hardware, computer software, networks, data, and data centers. An IT infrastructure is a combined set of hardware, software, networks, facilities, etc. (including all of the information technology), in order to develop, test, deliver, monitor, control, or support IT services.
A converged IT infrastructure packages multiple IT components and resources into a single, optimized computing solution. Components of a converged IT infrastructure solution include servers, data storage devices, networking equipment and software for IT infrastructure management, automation, and orchestration. Converged IT infrastructure is used by IT organizations to centralize the management of IT resources, consolidate systems, increase resource utilization rates, and lower costs. These objectives are enabled by the creation of pools of computers, storage, and networking resources that can be shared by multiple applications and managed in a collective manner using policy driven processes.
Change management in an IT environment, or a converged IT infrastructure, is accomplished utilizing change tickets. A change ticket includes modifications (i.e., change operations) to one or more system areas of the IT environment and specifies the system areas that are to be modified. The system areas include the components and sub-components of the IT environment. Some examples of change operations include replacing a file, updating software (e.g., a software patch), and modifying virtual machine resources in one or more components of an IT environment.